Rally of New Zealand Ltd joined the organisers of the other ten WRC rounds still to run this year in signing the FIA agreement which also sees the championship’s busy website www.wrc.com and other marketing initiatives managed by FIA-appointed suppliers.
The necessity for the agreement with WRC event organisers comes after the FIA terminated its contract with the previous WRC promoters and broadcast rights’ holders, North One Sport in January, following the company being placed in administration and consequently failing to deliver its contractual obligations.
Immediately prior to January’s WRC Rally Monte Carlo, the FIA confirmed its commitment to ensure all the 2012 events would be provided with the WRC’s highly-regarded timing and tracking services. At short notice Monte Carlo’s television production and broadcasts were provided by Eurosport while, in February, Rally Sweden had to organise its own television production. The new agreement allows the FIA to negotiate television production and broadcast distribution on behalf of all remaining 2012 events.
Peter ‘PJ’ Johnston, chairman of Rally of New Zealand Ltd, says: “We are very pleased to see a sound outcome from the present situation as the FIA takes the reins. With their coordination of the television media services, facilities and distribution, we can feel confident that the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship will continue to run to its usual high standards.”
Johnston notes that the FIA-coordinated agreement highlights the clear value that the FIA sees in the World Rally Championship, a series regarded as second only to Formula 1 in world motorsport.
This week, the FIA has also confirmed that it has signed an agreement with Stage 1 Technology for the provision of timing and tracking for the remainder of the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship season. This service provides important safety tracking of the cars during the entire event – both on and off the stages – and timing to a thousandth of a second, required for the all-new qualifying stage. The timing service will continue to be available on the championship’s official website, wrc.com.
The WRC heads to Mexico next for an early March event with rounds in Portugal, Argentina and Greece taking place before June’s Brother Rally New Zealand. Running from 21 to 24 June, Brother Rally New Zealand is based in Auckland with the rally route taking competitors to Waikato, Whangarei and Northland. News and information is updated on a regular basis on the event website, www.rallynz.org.nz, Facebook and Twitter.